Merkel is in favor of it: “Last big battle” or “encroachment on freedom” - curfew on the way?

How can the third corona wave be broken?

In addition to contact restrictions, Angela Merkel has brought curfews into play.

Berlin - Exit restriction and curfew: These anti-corona measures are increasingly becoming the focus of political considerations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) named them as a conceivable option for “Anne Will”: In regions with particularly high numbers of infections, these could be “a very effective means”.

There is a subtle difference between the two variants: Exit restriction means that there are valid reasons for which one can leave the house.

However, this can also include exercise in the fresh air, for example.

Nightly curfews between clearly defined times already exist in Bavarian regions with high incidence values ​​*.

The reasons for leaving the house are clearly defined.

Corona lockdown in Germany: curfew as the “last big battle”?

On Twitter, SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach once again spoke out clearly in favor of exit restrictions: “The last big battle is necessary,” he writes.

“Exit restrictions only need 2-3 weeks.

Until then, exponential growth will be broken if we postpone loosening up until then and instead consistently prepare the obligation to test in schools and at work. ”In recent days Lauterbach had repeatedly referred to other countries in TV interviews that only had such measures could have broken the corona wave.

Tübingen's Mayor Boris Palmer (Greens) also spoke out in favor of night exit restrictions as a further means to contain the corona pandemic *.

"I would have nothing to say against it: From 8 p.m. it's really quiet," said Palmer on Sunday evening in an online discussion on the

picture

.

With a view to the current model project in Tübingen, Palmer said that during the day you could sit in the outdoor catering area in an orderly fashion or shop with a mask.

“And at night everyone is at home - why not.” In Tübingen, he has the problem that large groups often celebrate parties on inner-city meadows after 8 p.m.

There is no distance, but alcohol, said the Green politician.

Corona in Germany: curfews should reduce corona numbers

At the end of last week, the news came from Brandenburg that the state was facing tightening of the corona rules in the private sphere.

During the Easter period from April 1 to 6, there should be an exit restriction from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. with a seven-day incidence of 100 on three days in a row, the State Chancellery in Potsdam announced.

Exceptions for valid reasons are possible.

In Lower Saxony, too, municipalities with an incidence value of more than 150 must immediately impose night curfews.

This emerges from a new corona regulation of the state government in Hanover that came into force on Monday.

However, this only applies if the infection process * can no longer be adequately limited and there is a risk of uncontrolled spread.

According to the ordinance, cities and municipalities with an incidence of between 100 and 150 curfews can also use curfews at their own discretion.

These are then valid between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

However, exceptions apply for so-called just cause.

This includes, for example, the way to work or to the doctor.

Corona curfews: how effective is this measure?

But some politicians doubt whether this measure will bring anything at all.

Dietmar Bartsch from the Left, for example: "I think this is a really tough remedy that should only be used in extreme emergencies," he said in the ARD "Morgenmagazin" about curfews.

"But where the numbers are so high, you just have to do it."

Bremen's Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) also sees the curfews only as a conditional means in the fight against the rising corona numbers.

According to a scientific study, the additional effect is "relatively limited" in countries with already tough lockdown measures, he said on

Deutschlandfunk

.

Above all, he was in favor of using “all milder means” in the fight against the pandemic beforehand.

He is thinking, for example, of the introduction of compulsory testing in companies.

At the same time, however, he does not want to rule out the fact that "regionally specific exit restrictions" would have to be applied if the number of infections increases significantly.

It just needs to be clear that the benefits are limited.

FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke out against curfews.

"The curfews, about which people talk again and again, are not only a disproportionate interference with freedom, they are also epidemiologically ineffective," Lindner told the television station Phoenix.

Curfews are "a symbolic measure that brings nothing, and which I therefore see extremely critical," he said.

Curfews: Studies come to different conclusions

Studies, however, have shown some of the benefits of curfews.

According to a report by the

Business Insider

portal, findings from France show

that infections in the age group over 60 have decreased as a result.

In the case of younger age groups, however, the curfew would not have been successful.

Only the lockdown with further restrictions prevented infections.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that curfews had an "important and lasting" effect.

The infection rates * have dropped significantly locally as a result.

However, the direct connection is not clearly recognizable, since other measures were working in parallel.

A study from Great Britain, on the other hand, showed, according to

Tagesschau

, that curfews are much less effective than other restrictions.

The greatest effect was therefore the restriction of meetings to fewer than ten people, the closure of educational institutions as well as fitness studios and bars.

This study also pointed out that it is difficult to consider effects in isolation.

For this reason, a look at the incidences of counties with exit restrictions is not necessarily meaningful.

It is still interesting that in the Schwandorf district in Bavaria, despite curfews at night, the 7-day incidence rose from 111.6 a month ago to 289.4 on Sunday.

(dpa / AFP / cibo) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA